With a pair of tights wound around her head, a sweater tied around her belly and golden sandals on her feet, Mimi rings at the door of her parents' home and tells her astonished mother that she is not Mimi today but Anne Other. As Anne Other, she does everything quite differently: she drinks her cacao without a fuss because milk is good for her bones, she cannot bear strawberry jam, which Mimi loves, and she allows Mrs Müller to tie her shoelaces because she cannot do it as well as Mimi. And then she tells Mimi's parents the terrible secret that has been concealed beneath Mimi's pillow for days…

Mimi is supposed to be practising piano, but she is bored. She is listlessly tinkers away – when suddenly a boy in strange clothes and a white wig walks out of the piano. He plays piano like a virtuoso, never looking at the notes, and never making a single mistake …

Tomi Ungerer answers children’s questions with the irreverent wisdom of a great artist who has never forgotten his inner child. The column from ›Philosophie Magazine‹ – in book form for the first time. »Why am I not you, and why are you not me? Who created God? If someone hits me, is it ok to hit back? Why does money exist? Could it be that I am only dreaming my life? Is there such a thing as nothing? Why do we have to love others and not just ourselves?« The great philosophical questions remain the same, be it two thousand years ago or yesterday, whether we are eighty or eight years old. Tomi Ungerer, the world-famous artist and children’s book writer, is also an idiosyncratic thinker and an untiring champion against prejudice and narrow-mindedness. Children from France and Germany asked him their questions. Ungerer’s answers are surprising, cheeky, funny, thought-provoking – and always inspiring. A philosophy book that makes readers want to think – whether they are children or adults.

»One, Two, where's my Shoe? – Three, Four, on the Floor!« – These are the only words Tomi Ungerer needs for a story. The rest is told by his subtle and shrewd pictures, which seem to take the viewer for a fool – until he can't help but smile in recognition: Across the book's pages, Tomi Ungerer's pencil conjures up dragonflies, soldiers, scarecrows, a pig and even an ocean liner. And the line is always: ›One, Two, where's my Shoe?‹

Idi and his parents have moved to a new town. He doesn't know anyone there and so nobody comes to his birthday. Thank goodness that, since he was little, his father has always given him tools as presents – at least Idi has something with which to keep himself busy. Out of the things that others throw away, he makes that which he does not have: friends. When Ki, the girl next door, hears the noise coming from Idi's workshop, she grows curious. What is that boy doing? »I'm making friends for myself,« he replies. All of a sudden Ki wants to help out with her sewing machine. The two of them have a lot of fun: while making friends, they become friends. Idi's and Ki's imaginative creations soon fill the whole front garden – the other children come to marvel and would like nothing better than for Idi and Ki to show them how to make ›new friends‹ like that. A children's book about the power of friendship, overcoming prejudice, the joy of creating something together and the unifying force of art and imagination.

As Novalis said, »Everything is a fairy tale.« But not all fairy tale anthologies are like The Giant Book of Fairy Tales by Tatjana Hauptmann – a true classic for the entire family, a book of magical beauty. This collection of the 100 best fairy tales from Europe is magnificently adorned with a colourful and enchanting palette of 600 drawings and watercolours.

Whether you are a child or an adult – anyone who loves books will love Knigi! Ghosts do not celebrate their birthdays, but ›birthnights‹. When little ghost Knigi gets to the age when human children learn to read, his aunt gives him a book on his birthnight. But something is wrong with it, for it is completely empty and the pages are white. Knigi decides to get to the bottom of the matter, to find out how reading works. And he ends up getting the surprise of his life. Knigi discovers the adventures and happiness that reading can bring.

A small dog among wild wolves – can this turn out well? A small dog with a wolf's habits among people – can this turn out well? 

F. K. Waechter provides a possible answer with this story of a small dog who is swept this way and that by events and which always manages to fit in. Since the dog always finds someone to look after him, he takes life as it comes. He surpasses himself as a wild hunter in the Russian forests, he is Olga's placid companion on her walks in the little town. And Olga knows that a dog can have a wolf's soul – even if it looks like a little lapdog.

This is a book about life, particularly since the little dog knows that everything – even life itself – comes to an end one day.

Grandpa Hucke is back! And he has brought along his crazy joining-in cabinet. Picture book, reading book, activity book, comic, games and puzzle book rolled into one – and much more besides. This book is full of stories and pictures. And it grows even larger and more beautiful when in the hands of a child (or two children, or three, or four). For then it becomes an entirely new book with stories and pictures all of its own ...

Who would have thought that a whole world was hidden in a forgotten corner of an old bric-à-brac shop? Nick, Anni and Kubaki, a strange old wooden horse, embark on a journey of discovery, passing through such fantasy worlds as Maharajovia and Slidestan, exciting cities like Aquaville, where ships sail above the skyscrapers and climb to the roof of the world, from where one can throw paper planes that fly as far as the horizon ... A dream-like journey around the world in twenty-one colourful illustrations. A book for those – like Nick and Anni – yearning to discover the world beyond the garden fence.

What we need now is an expert:
Fluffily soft, of stature,
and preferably of a cheerful nature. 

For weeks now, all of the children in town have been hiding in trunks, barrels, and basements to avoid becoming the hungry ogre's breakfast – all of the children, that is, except Zeralda, who lives in a clearing in the woods and doesn't know much about ogres. She does, however, know everything about cooking, and the scrumptious feasts that she prepares transform the ogre's eating habits when they finally come face to face.

Paul has the prettiest garden 
With the juiciest tomatoes
The spiciest chilli, the plumpest grapes
Pumpkins so big you can scarcely believe.

But wait, where are all the radishes today?
Oh, darling Lieschen!
The beds are empty, the trees bare
And Paul’s face as white as a sheet.

Paul is a passionate gardener. Everything is verdant and blooming and aromatic: Tomorrow is harvest day. But when Paul goes into his garden the next day, everything has gone! He wants to find the thief at once, and a major surprise awaits.

Long ago, in a wonderful old castle with tall towers and lots of secret rooms, there lived a sorcerer who could weave all kinds of spells. This sorcerer had a young and rather lazy apprentice who worked for him in return for lessons in magic. One day, when the sorcerer was away from the castle, his apprentice conveniently forgot what he had been taught: that magic is more than just casting a spell! He unlocked the secret magic book, memorized a secret magic spell, and decided to use it to save himself some work: Sharrrroom ta! Sharrrroom ta! Old broom perk, bring water and do all my work! And with that, the old broom in the corner came to life and began bringing buckets of water up the steep stone steps to the castle from the river below. The young apprentice was delighted – until the water began to flood the castle and he realized that he didn't know the magic words to make the broom stop!

Most of all, the moffels like to sleep all day long. Only after midnight, when people are dreaming, do the moffels come out.
They clamber over roofs, wander through empty streets, pass by the bakery and the school, end up at the department store and the zoo, but they can’t find what they’re looking for: a hooman, as the moffels call humans. After all, night is when humans are asleep . . .